


Four Walls

by uranus



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, and a roadtrip, long story short harry is going to be a great father lmao, there may or may not be a baby involved in this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 19:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3740035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uranus/pseuds/uranus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the last thing zayn wants is harry to suspect that he likes him. scratch that, the last thing zayn wants is an anonymous note attached to a baby on his front porch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. late night surprise

**Author's Note:**

> we’re both super duper excited to start this and we really hope you guys enjoy as much we do writing it!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zayn has a thing for harry.
> 
> zayn also has a secret on his front porch.

The light from Zayn’s phone illuminated against his face in the darkened room he was in; warm dancing bodies dancing all around him. The smell of sweat, weed, and beer mixed together made his nose scrunch up in annoyance. He wasn’t drunk or high enough for this. He slid his almost-dead iPhone back into his pocket and squeezed through the tight space he was given.

The door was already ajar before he pushed himself against it to let the cooler air hit his frame. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he saw that he was the only person outside. Well, that is if you didn’t count the piss-drunk pair that was rolling around in the lawn having a deep makeout session about fifty feet away. He chuckled lightly to himself before redirecting his attention to the new pack of cigarettes that he had just bought before he was dragged out here; it was about as lame as every other party Harry suggested they all go to, but he didn’t mind too much. He knew the others were enjoying themselves inside, which was really one of the only reasons he came. He also knew they would end up not going if he ditched them. His eyebrows furrowed, cigarette dangling from his mouth while he tried to get the nearly empty lighter to spark. He almost gave up until the smallest of flames finally decided to ignite. Luckily, it was just enough to get the end of it lit. He took a deep drag, letting the smoke linger in his lungs, holding it for as long as he could manage before exhaling it into the air.

About fifteen minutes had past and he had only finished a couple out of his Marlboro pack. He knew he should probably head back inside because at least one of them would be wondering where he had went off to soon. The remains of his cigarette dropped from his fingertips. He used the boots he was wearing to step on it, extinguishing it. He took one last deep breath, reminiscing in the fresh air he was breathing and pushed the door back open.

His face contorted into a small frown when the door had finally closed behind him. The hot air from all the moving bodies now engulfing him once again, making his skin become sticky. His hand skimmed through his hair while looking all around him to find some familiar face, any for that matter.

Zayn couldn’t find any of his friends anywhere. It was as if they’d disappeared into some dark abyss; unfortunately, Zayn was probably the only sober person within a ten mile radius. Some loud techno music was making his head pound with each beat, burying his pulse deep inside of his skeleton. The thoughts that told him he should go back to the flat and sleep almost obscured his actions, but the thought of seeing him somewhere in the crowd, made his heart palpitate.

A familiar hand found his way to his neck and Zayn’s heart almost fell out of his arse from the sudden contact. Suddenly, cold, wet lips were pushed to the shell of his ear and he immediately knew exactly who those lips belonged to.

“Louis, what do you want?” Zayn asked, having to physically fight the urge to roll his eyes. He couldn’t hear his thoughts through the music, but that didn’t stop him from having to strain his ears to grab onto Louis's words.

Louis swayed a little, the cup in his hand sloshing an amber liquid around the rim. Zayn side-steps away from the beer as it spilled onto the carpet beside his feet. “You don’t look like you’re having fun, mate. Light’n up and take a drink!” A bubble of laughter erupted from his throat and his sharp hip hit against his own, which made Zayn tumble a bit to the side with a grunt.

Annoyance washed over his cold body, Zayn bit the inside of his cheek and replied sternly, “I told Harry I didn’t want to come here but I did because he was giving me those damn puppy eyes.”

“You only wanted to come to see Harry’s nonexistent arse,” Louis hummed with his eyes closed.

True. Harry did have a nice little arse, actually, and it’s not like Zayn hadn’t been ogling it every chance he was given. Harry had disappeared along the obscured edges of people, and a breath of sadness pulled at the core of his stomach.

“You haven’t told him, have you?” Zayn spun a full one-eighty, facing Louis, who moved his curvy hips in tune to the obnoxiously loud song. When Louis didn’t reply, Zayn’s eyebrows knitted together. “Lou, you haven’t told him, right?”

The corners of his mouth curled on both sides, turning into a smirk. He poked his elbow into Zayn’s side, “‘Course not, Zaynie.” Relief eased his body, his previously tensed muscle relaxing once again.

The sound of shouting made both of them twist their bodies to the noise. Only moments later Niall appeared as he pushed past a few people. Zayn noticed the beads of sweat threatening to trickle down either sides of Niall’s face as he jogged towards the duo.

“You have got to see this, mates, Harry’s in a fight with some bloke!” Niall quickly spoke, aimlessly pointing behind him. Zayn could’ve sworn his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. His eyes widened when he finally came to realization. The last time Harry picked a fight while drunk, he ended up with a fractured wrist and had to get stitches on the top of his head.

Zayn swiftly pushed past Louis and Niall, ignoring both of them calling him an asshole for being so abrupt. His heart raced against his chest while his eyes darted to and from each face. A crowd was beginning to form about ten feet away from him and he knew exactly what that meant. His feet picked up a bit more speed which caused someone to fall to the ground. He didn’t bother to apologize.

He crashed into the hovering crowd, unable to get any farther. “Get the fuck out of my way!” He yelled, pushing even harder to get to the scene. His jaw clenched, hands rolled up in fists when he was able to get to the front. Harry had just gotten a punch in the face, his whole body moving with the throw. Within seconds an even harder swing from Harry collided into the stranger’s nose. Blood almost instantly becoming a steady flow past his lips.

Zayn rushed over, pulling Harry away. Louis and Niall soon met up with them, keeping the man out of Harry’s reach long enough to get Harry out. He slung his arm around his shoulder, trying his best to keep Harry sturdy. Zayn’s hand grabbed ahold of his waist as Harry almost fell face first on the ground. “Easy, easy, easy,” he soothed.

It was a difficult task for Zayn, but they actually made it out alive. He laid Harry out on the grass so he could rest his sore shoulder. He looked closer at the damage that was done. His lip was busted, a drip of blood that had already dried adorned the corner of his mouth. His cheek had a red mark planted neatly on his face, it was obviously going to become an uncomfortable bruise later. Zayn dabbed the shirt he was wearing over his eyebrow where blood was still leaking. Harry winced a tiny bit from the touch of the rough fabric.

Niall and Louis came out running towards them, laughing to one another. “Dude’s totally blacked out, you should’ve seen ‘em!” Niall said between his heavy breathing. Zayn emitted a small smile, glad that they didn’t have to worry about the man coming to find all four of them to beat all of their asses individually.

Silence filled the air around them, Zayn’s shirt still pressed firmly against Harry’s wound. Harry’s eyes were shut, but he was still awake.

“So…” Louis trailed off finally, “who gets to take him home?”

They all glanced at one another before looking back at Harry. Zayn sighed, already knowing he would be the lucky winner.

“To be honest mates, I’m way too drunk to be driving. Harry and I might as well sign our death certificates if I take him,” Niall casually remarked, another laugh escaping his mouth.

“Same. I know Liam’s in there somewhere waiting for me to go do a round of shots with him…” Louis awkwardly shuffled his feet from underneath him as he spoke.

Zayn groaned, rolling his eyes. “Alright, whatevs, I’ll take him home. Douchebags.”

Louis planted an exaggerated kiss on the top of Zayn’s head. “See you when we get home! You’re the best, Zaynie!” Zayn couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as he watched them clumsily run back inside.

He looked back over to Harry, eyes still pressed shut. “Alright, let’s get ya home Harold.” Even in Harry’s hazy state, he still smiled at the words Zayn spoke to him.

Harry’s eyes flickered back open to look up at Zayn. “Carry me,” his voice was gravelly while he muttered his words,”pleaseee.”

Zayn, of course, gave in and kneeled down in front of Harry who leapt onto his back. Fortunately the way to his car wasn’t that far of a walk, so he could probably manage this. Harry buried his face into Zayn’s shoulder, his long waves tickling against his cheek with every step. Zayn suppressed the smile that threatened to creep up on his features. He could feel Harry’s muscles become lax against his body, his feet dangling on either side of his waist. A small snore sounded out beside his ear, causing Zayn to snicker to himself. Harry always was an easy sleeper.

Soon afterwards they finally reached his car. He shook Harry slightly, poking his thumb into his thigh a few times to gently wake him up. A groan escaped from his mouth, him not moving an inch. “You can go back to sleep in a second, I just need you to hop down real quick so I can open the car, okay?” Harry sighed, Zayn’s shoulder tingling at the sensation of it against the cold night air. He clumsily hopped down and leaned against the tire as Zayn padded his pocket in search for his keys. It didn’t take long for him to hear the same soft snoring from Harry to sound out beside him. Zayn rolled his eyes, clicking the button to unlock the doors. Zayn was surprised when the sound of the car door opening didn’t wake him up. He let out a huff, looking down at the sleeping boy against the tire. He knelt down, swinging Harry’s arms over him to lift him up. His arm safely tucked underneath the crook of his knees. Zayn made sure not to bump his head on the top of the car as he placed him gently into the passenger seat. After securing him into the belt buckle, he silently closed the door behind him and got into the driver’s seat.

The drive was a very dull twenty minutes, Zayn peeking over to Harry every now and then to see if he had woken up. From the amount of little potholes he had come in contact with, you’d think he’d be fully awake by now. But, this was typical Harry.

The street lights guided the way to the parking lot of their conjoined home. It was almost like one big apartment, but for college. Once the car was put into park and keys back inside the confinements of Zayn’s jeans, he shook Harry’s arm. “Harry.” He didn’t budge. “Harry!” He spoke with a bit more effort. He jolted back awake, his eyes looking back and forth before becoming half closed again. His hand met up with his face, rubbing his eyes. A look of discomfort met his features when he accidentally made contact with the bruise that was beginning to form on his cheek bone. “Careful now.” Harry looked over at him, a half smile coming across his face. Zayn patted his hand in acknowledgement. Harry looked over to the other side, reaching out for the handle of the door. It took him a few tries before it finally pried open. Zayn hopped out to offer some help since he’d probably still be a bit wobbly from the alcohol still coursing through his system. Harry caught himself just in time before falling into the sidewalk, Zayn getting ready to catch him. “I totally got this, totally got this.”

Zayn opened the door for Harry to stumble inside of the main entrance. Wrapping one arm around Harry’s waist, Zayn became a makeshift crutch until he could get the taller boy into his own bed.

When they reached the lobby of their building, Zayn blindly let his free hand graze over the walls in search for a light switch. Curses falling through his lips, he tried to keep Harry’s weight against his side but eventually gave up.

A sharp thump echoed around the lobby and Harry doubled over, mumbling “shitshitshitshitshit” so loudly that Zayn had to cover his mouth with the palm of his hand. Zayn waved his arm around, feeling the back of the scratchy sofa and when he soon later recognized the smooth surface of the bathroom door, he pushed it open with his shoulder. Harry’s hair curled and kissed the tip of Zayn’s ear, sending an electric current through his brain.

“Sit down on the tub and I’ll get a towel, yeah?” Zayn instructed Harry as he flicked on the bathroom light, a slight buzz emitting from the fluorescent lights above their heads. Zayn opened the cabinet door and reached for his special towel, scurrying to the other side of the bathroom to run it under the tap. Wringing it out of excess water, Zayn bit on the inside of his cheek to keep from the flood of thoughts wrapping around his brain.

“God,” Zayn cleared his throat, slipping through the spot between Harry’s legs. Down on his knees, Harry looked so beautiful - even despite the deep purple bruise that blossomed on his cheek and the dried blood - with lips that were the deepest shade of pink and cheeks that were flushed with roses. Harry’s head was rolled onto his shoulder, his eyes closed softly to let the blue-white light reflect the purple and blue veins of his eyelids. Harry’s lips were slightly pulled apart, exposing a different feeling in Zayn that felt a lot like a hot, overwhelming current of love and excitement.

“Is’t really that bad?” The corner of Harry’s lips turned up in question.

Zayn snapped out of his trance and gingerly pressed the damp towel to the swollen cut. “No, not that bad.” Through his words, Harry hissed at the touch and his clammy hand fell onto Zayn’s shoulder. With a light clench of his fingers, Zayn could feel the heat of Harry’s palm seeping through his shirt.

Finishing up with the disinfectant and placing a band-aid, Zayn stood and the whole world flopped sideways under his feet. Harry followed soon afterwards, dropping his eyes to the floor and pulling his lips into a fine line.

“Would it be too much,” Harry sighed, “If I kipped in your bed? Niall’s awfully messy and -”

“Yes.”

Harry looked up at Zayn, the pupils of his eyes blown out. There were dark circles under Harry’s eyes and a pang of sympathy punched Zayn a million times in the gut as the thought of Harry curled next to him brought warm feelings in his chest.

“I mean, if you’re not comfortable with sharing a bed with me I- I get it.” Harry held his hands up defensively, his eyebrows pulling together.

Zayn shook his head, turning off the light switch for the bathroom. He heard Harry’s heavy footsteps shadowing his own and they provided a sense of comfort. The lobby was still empty, the usual night owls missing from the scene. When they pushed through the lobby, they entered Zayn’s room, the overwhelming scent of acrylic paints and new textbooks.

Harry flopped down on one side of Zayn’s neatly made bed, a moan escaping his lips. Zayn kicked his shoes off, tossing his trousers to the laundry basket on the other side of the room, and reached down to Harry to unzip and remove his shoes.

“Thanks for being a good mate,” Harry sighed into Zayn’s favorite pillow. The moonlight caught the silky strands of Harry’s hair and Zayn wanted nothing more but to discard his fingers through the deep chestnut waves.

“No problem.” Zayn mumbled.

“Zayn?”

“Hm?”

“Can you do me another favor, please?”

“Anything.” The words echoed around the room, sending a soft chill down his spine.

“I can’t sleep properly until someone combs my hair with their fingers. Niall’s really shit at it so I have to do it myself, but can you do it for me, please?”

Anything, Zayn thought. Zayn turned to his side, facing Harry’s broad back, and propped himself up with his right elbow. Running a hand through Harry’s hair caused him to hum into the touch. Zayn lightly brushed his scalp with his nails and gingerly worked his way through any tangles that managed to build.

“That feels really fucking good,” Harry moans, his deep voice vibrating through Zayn’s head. Zayn felt like he was going to melt into the mattress, melt into a pile of goo until he could evaporate into Harry’s body and live inside of him forever. When Zayn started from his hairline, Harry curled into the touch. “Right there.” He urged, Zayn’s heart surging into his throat.

“I know you like girls and - and I just don’t want this to seem weird between us.” Zayn couldn’t stop the words from falling through his lips.

“Not weird at all; It’s just a bro thing.”

Zayn wanted to ghost his lips to the spot right underneath Harry’s ear, the soft skin left exposed made his mouth water. The smell of Harry made Zayn want to press his chest against Harry’s back and never ever leave him.

As time passed, Harry’s hums grew dimmer and dimmer, replacing it was the soft snores that rumbled through the mattress. Zayn closed his eyes and listened to Harry’s heartbeat, eventually matching the pace with his own.

His eyes fluttered open from an unrecognizable sound coming somewhere from outside. He figured it was just his mind playing a trick on him and tried to go back to sleep. But then it became more prominent. Was that a baby's cry? Zayn rubbed his eyes, trying to rid the sleepiness that was preventing his eyes to stay open.

It was so close, was the thing. He was hoping it was maybe just someone's kid outside with them, but that idea became less and less possible as the crying became louder and more desperate.

Zayn looked over to Harry whose face was smothered into the comforts of his pillow. His long limbs draped all over the place, his right arm loosely slung over Zayn's torso. He smiled at the sleepy boy beside him but then gingerly put the arm back to his side and pulled the covers up to the top of his neck. His bare feet quietly tapped against the carpet of their dorm, scooting the doors open and only running into a minimal amount of objects in the dark.

He finally reached the front door, unlocking it where the noise seemed to be right at. His hand nervously still rested on the cold brass of the door knob, mentally praying this was just some prank the boys were playing on him.

The door creaked ever so slowly, his eyes scanning all around him before they fell to the steps. His eyebrows twitched together in a knot, a frown setting on his face. A baby in a small box lay there, only covered in a wool blanket. A note was on top of the bundled up child. Before he bent down to pick it up, he stepped more outside, his fingers crossed that Louis was about to pop out of nowhere yelling "gotcha!" But when he soon realized he was the person anywhere around, a flush of anxiety rushed through his veins.

His attention was brought back to the child, it giggled at Zayn as he kept his glare at it. Holding his breath, he cautiously walked back to the boxed baby and picked up the sheet of paper.

His hands shook so much against the note he was almost unable to read it.

_I'm deeply sorry for whoever's doorstep this is. I've seen you boys around and you seem like caring group of lads. I just can't do this. I thought I could, but I can't. Please—I'm begging. Take my baby girl and care for her. This is so odd I know. I should have dropped by an adoption center, I know I know. But I don't want to completely lose her, I can't. Just please._

_Yours truly._

Zayn's hands were trembling even harder now by the time he had read over the message for the fifth time.

"Oh, fuck."


	2. purple crayon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the boys stop by a daycare. everyone ends up ditching the plan. zayn thinks and liam uses the color purple for flowers.

The light through the curtain sprayed across Zayn’s room as Harry slowly decided to wake up. His eyes winced against the sudden contact, the slight hangover not really helping his situation of sight. The smell of Zayn’s cologne was evident when he took a deep breath with his face still buried into the soft pillow. His hand reached over to pad on either side of him when he seemingly remembered crawling into bed with Zayn the previous night. After a few moments of him just hitting against empty sheets, he realized Zayn had already gotten out.

Harry’s head lifted, shifting his weight upright on the side of the bed. The warmth that the blanket provided soon escaped when he went to go search for his friend. Once he left the room he started to regret not changing back into warmer clothes because it was even colder in all the other rooms. Luckily he spotted one of the boys’ jumpers in the hallway. They really needed to learn how to put things away.

The sound of bare feet tapping against the floor was the only thing that was heard throughout their dorm area, everyone still asleep. Except Zayn, obviously, but Harry still didn’t know where he had ventured off to. He instantly stopped walking when he heard something. Maybe his ears were playing tricks on him, but he was pretty sure it sounded like a small giggle from a...baby?

His eyebrows raised in question while he slowly turned the corner to the kitchen. Zayn was sitting at the table. His chin resting on both of his knuckles. His forehead was creased, thinking about something pretty thoroughly. When Harry switched his sight to a little ways in front of him on the table, he noticed the slightly worn box adjacent from him.

“Zayn?”

For a second his whole body jerked to the direction of Harry’s voice, he looked terrified. But, it didn’t take long for him to return back to his original position. “Hey,” he said nonchalantly.

“Hey…” Harry trailed off as he walked closer to him, “What’s in the-” Zayn didn’t even have to look at his face to be able to know exactly what he looked like. It probably looked a lot like the expression Zayn had last night when he opened the door to find the same thing. It still hadn’t even registered completely that there was a baby dropped off on his doorstep not even twelve hours ago. Didn’t that only happen in movies?

“I fucking know, man,” Zayn’s hands rubbed against his face. He hadn’t gotten any sleep since then, he was scared if he turned his back for one second the baby would start crying again. How would he have explained that late at night what a baby was doing in their dorm?

When Zayn turned to look back at Harry, his features were almost the complete opposite of what he expected. A grin was plastered wildly across his face, the dimple deeply indented on his one cheek. He looked like a little kid ready to open presents on Christmas morning. It almost made him laugh, but when he heard a mumble come from the baby’s lips in front of him he stopped the thought.

The noise only encouraged Harry to pick it up. He spoke in the baby-voice that was always so hard for Zayn to understand what the hell he was talking about. If it wasn’t for the fact that he wasn’t about to die from sleep deprivation, he would’ve been rolling his eyes at that moment.

“Are you not even curious as to where this thing came from?” Zayn’s arms crossed at his chest, peering up at the boy who was cradling the baby, bopping their nose.

Harry continued talking in his baby accent, still playing with the child as he replied back, “Well, kind of. I was guessing it was someone’s you’re babysitting?”

Zayn closed his eyes for a moment, suppressing the urge to reply with a bitter sarcastic comment that threatened to escape his mouth. Like, Yes, Harry. I keep the babies I babysit in a fucking muddy box. How did you find out my secret!

“No, Harry,” he spoke instead with a small sigh, “I found her...him..it...whatever last night. On our porch with a note.” He reached into the previously occupied cardboard, retrieving the white notebook paper that had the mother’s wishes on it and then handed it to him.

Zayn watched Harry’s whole face sink, his smile fading along with his dimple. His eyes hung low for a minute before he directed them to the baby then back at Zayn. “Wait..so...you mean to tell me this is like, our baby?” The smile was already back, wider than ever.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Harry. You, nor I, nor any single one of us know how to take care of a baby. I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to even tell this to them.”

Harry’s lips puckered to the side in thought, looking once at the baby then back to the boy in front of him. A sly smile grew against his face as he handed it back over to Zayn. Zayn just peered at it awkwardly, not exactly sure what to say or do with it. He tried smiling at it, but the baby wasn’t even paying attention, they were too focused on the ceiling fan that was spinning above them.

Zayn heard Harry running through the doorway, shouting for the rest of the boys to wake up. Followed by that was a decent amount of “fuck offs” and “go back to sleep Harry” but all of them knew by now that that was no use when it came to him.

Ten minutes had passed and one by one they piled into the room Zayn and the child were sharing. Groggy eyes searched around the room trying to find what the surprise was that Harry was going on about. When they all realized what Zayn was holding in his arms each one of their jaws dropped.

“Harry, you didn't steal someone's baby did you?” Louis asked, only half-joking.

“What? No! Look, look.” Harry quickly forced the piece of paper into his hand as he waited for him to open it and read it for himself.

Liam and Niall’s head leaned over on both of his shoulders trying to read along.

“Hell no.” Was the first thing that came from Louis’s mouth after forcefully handing the slip back to Harry. “No! We can’t take care of a baby. Are you insane?”

Zayn could see disappointment spread across Harry’s whole body. It made him feel bad for him, obviously he was excited for this, but he had to have known this wasn’t feasible.

“Well, I mean, we can’t just leave ‘em out in the cold. I already called basically every single orphanage within a 100 mile radius, and there’s literally no spots,” Zayn paused to look back over to Harry who still looked slightly sad, “Harry, you know we can’t keep the baby. So, how about we all just kind of brainstorm and throw around some ideas of what to do next, yeah?” Zayn gave him a reassuring smile to try and lift his mood a small amount.

Harry nodded, looking back up to Zayn from the ground. Deep down he knew this wouldn't really work, but it just seemed so cool to be able to take care of a child.

"Alright, well for starters-" he paused to lean back onto the wall and pointed at the baby, "it's a girl."

 

────────────────────

 

“I have a great idea,” Louis piped up all of a sudden. All five of the boys now sat thigh-against-thigh on the couch of their shared lobby, pondering about the little child sleeping in her little box. So far, Zayn had to deal with the little girl crying for what seemed like ages and Harry decided to run to the local market earlier to grab diapers and baby food (which mostly consisted of mashed bananas). The lobby was empty besides the five of them; Stan Lucas and Nick Grimshaw probably having wandered somewhere else on the school’s campus nearby - Zayn didn’t really care.

Zayn glanced over to his left, where Liam had his eyebrows knitted together to draw lines in between, and his bottom lip tucked between his teeth. All morning, Liam had been pacing back and forth with his thumb and index finger pressed against the bridge of his nose. He'd been complaining a lot about how stressful it is being a law student and now he has to help take care of a child.

Zayn’s eyes fell to the right, Harry had his hands neatly folded over his ankles as he sat criss-crossed (and taking up most of the space). There was a slight dimple on his cheek, eyes gleaming with astonishment. Zayn wanted to reach out and hold his hand but the look in Louis’ cold eyes told him that then wasn't the best time.

“How about we all try matching our features with the little ‘un?” Louis drummed his fingers against the cold floor and Zayn’s butt had began to ache. They’d been sitting in complete silence for the past ten minutes, watching the baby’s chest rise and fall and her tiny pink tongue that stuck out between bright red lips. One of them would sit forward, a clean rag in hand, to wipe away the drool that slipped out. She was a cutie that sported long dark eyelashes that fanned over her tinted cheeks, and wisps of blonde hair that stuck up in all directions.

The room filled with Niall’s quiet humming of a tune, and the fan going off in Nick’s dorm room (because he likes to sleep in the fucking cold and freeze and die, apparently).

“Well,” Harry drawls. “Looks like she’s got blonde hair.” Four pairs of eyes fell on Niall, who quickly stopped humming. His eyes widened in shock and he shook his head quickly.

“I can promise you that she’s not my baby.” He replied sternly. “I don’t even have naturally blonde hair!” Niall whisper-yelled, narrowing his eyes as if to make a point.

“When’s the last time any of us shagged anyone?” Louis was very loud and very annoyed, his head lolling to the side. Zayn noticed that Louis was a little bit hungover and Louis was never very fond of children that weren't related to him.

Liam’s face scrunched in disgust. “That’s an invasion of privacy!”

“Yeah, but apparently someone didn’t think of that when they decided to drop their baby off on our fucking front porch, Liam.” The bitterness that hung in the air caused the little baby to stir in her sleep. Balled fists waved in the air and her body squirmed, trying to get comfortable.

Suddenly, a light flickers. “We can make a ‘Lost’ poster for her! I’m sure there’s someone in one of our lectures who’s missing a baby!” Liam snapped his fingers in the air.

Harry cocked his head towards Zayn, a luminous clump of hair falling over his eyes. “You haven’t said anything in a while - are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, just dandy,” Zayn swallowed. He was such a fucking liar. Nothing was dandy - in fact, the last thing that was dandy was already over his head.

In the background of Zayn’s thoughts, Liam and Louis were bickering over the use of a “Lost Baby” poster. ( “That’s a stupid fucking idea! Yeah, just have an axe murderer show up like ‘yeh that’s my baby’?” “Stop swearing around the baby! And it’s not stupid! You’re stupid!” “You smell like old people making love!” ) Louis had a point though: there could be a random stranger just coming up to confirm that it’s their child. But then, how are they going to return the child back to her rightful owner? Shit, it’s not like she’s an animal or anything.

“How about…” The sound of Harry’s deep voice knocked the argument right out of Louis and Liam’s mouths. “We go to a daycare center and scope out a nice lady who looks like the baby!” His eyebrows raised and he sat up straighter as if that’s the smartest idea in the whole entire world.

And honestly, Zayn wanted to go with the flow as long as Harry was riding along, too (or pulling it forward).

But right then, anything sounded good. Just as long as the baby got to a safe place that wasn't in this lobby or in any dorm within a 20 foot radius.

“I’m all aboard.” Niall confirms. Liam nodded and stubborn Louis just crossed his arms over his chest, but eventually gave in. Zayn shrugged nonchalantly. “Let me get my good trousers on and meet up here in 20.”

Harry made a popping noise with his lips, “Sounds like a plan.”

Their makeshift car seat probably wasn’t the best of their ideas, but it worked for the time given. Harry insisted that he bring a pillow to hold on top of his lap while the baby girl sat there “just in case”. They all rolled their eyes in unison, but agreed anyway.

Fortunately the outdated GPS that was installed in Louis’s car got them there with only have to turn around about two times. All of them felt uncomfortably squished into the backseat except Harry, who was completely content with his position. No one was even partially shocked.

About thirty minutes later of their roundabout journey, they pulled in front of the sign that read “Lil Tots Daycare”. Zayn peered at the brightly colored flowers that were placed neatly around the wooden sign that was sticking up from the ground. There were only a few cars in the parking lot for the business he noticed once he finally climbed out of the backseat. He had to stretch his legs a bit from being in such a crowded area.

Louis climbed out next to stand beside him, doing the same exact thing with his legs. “Bit cramped, yeah?” He laughed slightly through his mumble. Zayn looked down at him, a small smile breaking through. “You could say that.”

His body turned to face the front door that had little handprints painted randomly on the wood. He sighed, looking down at his feet and kicked a few pebbles. “This is such a stupid idea.” His body swiveled back to meet Louis’s gaze. Their facial expressions matched the other’s. His shoulder raised slightly, “Yeah, it’s fuckin’ pointless, mate.” Oddly, Zayn felt comforted by that. At least he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t exactly chipper about this whole ideal.

“Well, hello boys! Welcome to Lil Tots, what can I do ya for?” The depressing trance that Zayn was in quickly escaped when his head shot to his right to find a lady who was probably in her mid sixties standing there. One of her hands was held tightly against a little girl’s who was sucking the thumb of her other hand. The woman’s smile made the wrinkles in her eyes become more prominent.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m Liam. This is Harry, Louis, Zayn, and Niall.” Liam said as he politely pointed his hand to each one of them.

The elderly woman smiled back, extending her free arm for a handshake from all five boys. “I’m Marlene Porter, you can call me Mar. Are you gentlemen dropping this little one off? We usually don’t get such a crowd of youngins like yourselves.”

Zayn mouth slacked as his went through his thoughts to think of something to say but was cut off when Harry spoke up. “Yes ma’am - or, not quite. We were kind of wondering if you guys were accepting, like, volunteers or something.” Zayn could tell Harry was getting nervous from the tone of his voice. He always seemed to be like that when he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, which was fitting since none of them knew.

Marlene still had the smile on her face, glancing at them all every now and then. It made Zayn’s skin crawl a bit from the lack of talking on her side then. “Actually, we do have some spots open for that. Always accepting volunteers. I’m guessing we’ll also be watching your child as well?” She raised her eyebrow and motioned with her hand to follow them through the entrance.

She called for someone by the name of Victoria and waited patiently by the front desk until someone came rushing to her. “Can you take these boys’ little girl to the nap room, she’s looking a bit restless.” Niall gladly handed over the squirming child that was in his arms over to the worker and taking the other child that was still holding onto Marlene’s hand. He thanked her quietly before she disappeared down the corridor into a room.

“Now, just fill out these forms. After that just stack them all on the desk right here and someone will get to it. You all can just kind of walk around and get a feel for everything. There should be a couple of workers roaming around here somewhere so if you have any questions, feel free to ask. We do have cameras.” She stopped to point to the corners of the walls,”But I don’t see any trouble being caused from you five. Hopefully, anyway.” A breathy laugh came out of her mouth after she finished speaking. “I’m going to be in my office which is down the hall, the last room on the right if you need anything.” She smiled one last time and exited down the same hallway that Victoria had just went through.

The awkwardness that was in the air diminished now that Marlene was gone into her office. “Okay, well, I think I’m going to go outside, see if any of them are like playing on the playground… or something.. I dunno.” It was Harry who said that, Zayn could tell he was really just eager to go play with the kids. Zayn’s lips curled in a miniature smile in acknowledgement. Harry stepped past the others, his hand briefly placed on the small of Zayn’s back as he walked around him. He swallowed hard, not expecting the sudden contact. He closed his eyes, trying to suppress the thought back to his head. He shouldn’t be thinking like this.

“Yeah, I’m gonna...go draw with the kids. Liam, you want to come?” Zayn finally asked after Harry was now out of anyone’s sight. Liam nodded at him, blindly walking around the corner and Zayn followed. Neither one of  them really knew where they were heading, but the building wasn’t big enough for them to get too lost.

What seemed to be the main play room was actually just around the corner, a handful of children lingered around playing with an assortment of things. Zayn didn’t even realize that Niall had followed them until he saw him go over to the corner with the musical instruments that were not-so-neatly scattered in one of the corners of the area.

Zayn took a seat, his knees coming back up to his chest from the size of the chair. It was obviously not meant for anyone past the age of ten. He didn’t mind it too much, but Liam just sat cross legged on the floor as he questioned a small boy about what he was doodling.

Zayn glanced down at the blank white paper in front of him. The little children already scribbled on the paper in bright blues, greens, and reds. Liam murmured words under his breath as he ran the colored pencils over the page.

Over on the other side of the daycare, Louis played football with a couple of the little ones. They screamed when the ball flew past them and Zayn watched the bright smile on Louis’ face. On the other side, Harry slid down the slide with his hands up in the air making choo-choo! noises.

Zayn smiled. A warm feeling suddenly drenched his thoughts when a little girl hopped on Harry’s back, tiny arms loosely hung around his neck. Harry gave the little girl a piggy back ride, his lanky legs weaved through the happy children who begged for a chance next.

“I can’t believe you won’t just tell him…” Liam sighed to Zayn. Zayn shuffled in his seat, uncomfortable with being caught.

Zayn heard the tremor in his voice but he ignored it. “Tell him what?”

Liam gave him a look that said I’m not stupid. Zayn really wished he was stupid just for the time being. “You like Harry; we can all see that, you know?”

“Harry likes girls and I like girls.” Simple as that. The table grew silent with the colored pencils running over the paper.

Zayn then found himself reaching for a brown marker, the color of warm chestnut, and he doodled waves that curled in every direction. There was an empty spot right at the middle, Zayn reached for the deep green and drew Harry’s eyes.

He glanced at Liam for a short second, noticing the dense purple flower flourishing amongst the white. A thought fell right through his lips, “What if we named the baby after a color?”

Liam’s eyebrows raised in amusement. “Violet would be a pretty name. We can call her Vi or Vee for short. I like it.” The catch of each other’s eyes brought a warm atmosphere as they chuckled.

When they died down, Zayn looked out of the daycare’s floor-to-ceiling window. He caught a tiny drop of rain with his eyes, letting a few patter of other drops to soothe him. Maybe keeping this baby - Violet - wouldn’t be a bad idea. Zayn’s mum would always tell him that he needs to gain more responsibility and with the help of the boys, they can give Violet the best life possible.

He thought about her warm honey eyes and white-blonde hair that sat on top of her head like a halo. Zayn enjoyed watching Harry with a baby and maybe, just maybe, this could be his key to wiggle his way into Harry’s heart.

If so, he’d better get a head start.


	3. diaper disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> zayn takes care of baby violet while the other 4 go out to a party and later has to hunt down (mainly) harry because they drove off with the car that had the diapers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is super late and both of us apologize but we've both been so busy with school exams and stuff like that that we haven't been able to find time to write together! this is a really cute chapter imo so i hope this makes up for it! it also introduces a new character who will show up more often now :-) -kennedy

"What the fuck? Why am I always the one who gets the short end of the stick for this kind of shit?" Zayn spat at the three boys in front of him, anger evident in the tone of his voice.  


"C'mon man, you know you don't even like going to these parties anyhow!" Louis was already slipping his good shoes on while he talked. He didn't even meet Zayn's eyes as he did, which was probably a good thing because the look he was giving would've killed.  


Zayn looked at the baby girl that he was still holding and then let his head fall back with an aggravated huff. He looked at the tiles of ceiling and wished it would cave in and crush him flat, but that wouldn't do anyone any good, unfortunately.  


"Alright, whatevs. Fuck you guys, then." Liam opened his mouth to protest about "little ears being in the room" but realized it wasn't the best time to bring that problem back up.  


Zayn turned a 180, steering himself to the living room, suddenly not wanting to be in the same room as the other three. Harry was already at the party. He said something about it being for one of their friends; he couldn't remember the name he said it was for. The thought of Harry hooking up with a girl crossed his mind for a brief second, his knuckles clutching tightly together. He shook his head, erasing the thought.  


After putting Violet inside of her homemade crib, (they would've gotten an actual one, but those things are actually really expensive so that's for a different paycheck) Zayn sprawled his body out on their sunken sofa. Some television show he didn't know of was playing, but his eyes were already drooping too much for him to care about the background noise.  


Sometime later he was abruptly woken up by the sound of a baby's cry. The window in their room exposed the darker sky; he must've been asleep for an hour or so.  
His hand reached up to his face, rubbing his eyes a few times. Reminiscing in the comforts of the couch, he took a deep breath and made his way to the noise.  


"Hey, kiddo." His voice was still a bit gravelly from his nap a few minutes ago.  


Violet was a fitting name at that time, her face practically purple from crying. She was definitely angry about something.  


He reached in, swiftly picking her up and rocking her in his arms. "Shh, shhh, shhhh..." He cooed to her.  


The pacifier didn't stop the crying, not even her favorite stuffed animal that used to be Niall's was any help. He almost lost hope completely, half tempted to just leave Violet on someone else's doorstep to deal with.  


The wave hit him and almost knocked him to his feet. His nose scrunched up in disgust, now knowing what the problem was. How perfect. Harry was always the one who volunteered to change her diaper; Zayn finding an excuse as to why he can't every time. But now he was the only one here and there was no getting out of it.  


Even as Zayn walked through the house searching for the diapers, her crying remained persistent. An ache was beginning to form in the back of his head. He was desperate to find that stupid thing.  


"Shit!" He said out loud, a hand flying to his mouth remembering how he really was trying to contain the profanities that tried to escape him.  


The diaper bag was in the trunk of the car. The car that Niall, Louis, and Liam had driven off to the party. And what else was in that diaper bag? His wallet. So just buying new diapers was out of the question. He almost cursed again under his breath but reluctantly kept it inside.  


"This is just temporary, I promise." He felt bad having to wrap Violet in a hand towel, but what else was there to do until he got to their car? And he wasn't about to wait through the party until they got home, especially with her wailing like this.  


He remembered them talking about what street the house was on. He silently thanked God for not being that non observant.  


It was only about fifteen minutes down the road. Every now and then he would peek at Violet through the mirror, smiling to himself. She had finally stopped her nonstop crying, only little sputters of tears coming every now and then.  


The house was almost too easy to spot, tons of cars were parked all around the brightly lit two-story house. He found a parking space a little bit of a walk away.  
Now for the hard part, find the boys.  


Stepping out into the bitter air, Zayn unclipped Violet from the car seat (Louis had bought it with a sour attitude, “But Zayn, that’s like, three weeks worth of my crappy paycheck") and watched her pale eyelids fall. He fixed the little frog knit hat to keep her warm and bundled her into a thick cocoon of blankets.  


The music blared so loud through the dormitory building that Zayn felt like his ears were going to bleed. He looked down at Violet, who curled her tiny fists, and opted to give her his only pair of headphones to block out the music.  


“Shit,” Zayn mumbled uncomfortably as he tried to hold the little baby and wrestle the car door to stay open while he reached for the headphones on the middle seat. With a bump of his hip, the car door closed and he put the headphones over Violet’s tiny ears, adjusting the band to the smallest.  


Leaves crunched beneath his step, his heartbeat began to mix in with the loud music. Already, there were a pair of intoxicated guys making out on the front lawn, dismissing the scattered plastic cups and egg shells. The steps up to the door was the hardest, some guys hitting a bowl by the balcony, their eyes were lost in thought.  


A particular someone caught his eye out of the group.  


“Niall?”  


A bleary-eyed Niall Horan spun around, which turned into something like a shuffle, his lips pulled into a wide smile. “Ah, Zaynie! You made it to the party. Thought ‘ya had to take care of the little one?” He passed the small pipe over to the other guys and they got to work with lighting. He caught the nestled baby in Zayn’s arms and he leaned forward, smoothing her hair out of her face.  


“I’m actually not here for the party…” He grumbled in a pinched tone. He was annoyed with everyone expecting him to go to parties all of the time. Although he wouldn't have minded to have a break every now and then. “I’m here for Harry.”  


Niall put an arm around Zayn’s shoulder, “I bet you are.” Niall nodded, matter-of-factly. “But do you know why there’s really a party?” Zayn just stood there. He wasn’t going to say anything.  


“Apple just came back from her wild trip!” He whisper-yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Remember when she was gone for like, a year now?”  
Still, Zayn remained silent. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Apple - a dear friend of theirs - but it was just that he came for Harry and wasn't in the mood for chitchat. This was an In And Out Mission.  


Niall dragged Zayn into the dormitory, the loud song taking Zayn’s whole body and leaving only a slight feeling of anxiety.  


There were so many people there that the first step you took into the lobby, you would immediately collide with someone. Zayn clutched Violet closer to himself, hoping that Niall knew where he was going. He wondered what it must feel like for a baby to sleep through a uni party with a soggy dish rag around her.  


The atmosphere was thick with alcohol and sweat, and a rush of coldness ran down his spine. He wasn’t exactly sure where Niall was bringing him, but he followed along anyway. Hopefully he wasn't just getting deeper into the party for no reason.  


It was hard for him to see over people’s heads while simultaneously shielding Violet from her surroundings. He heard Niall shout something towards him, but wasn’t completely sure what was said. A little bit farther in the distance he gathered what it was now that he could see the tall lanky boy leaning clumsily against the wall talking to Apple. The only way he was able to recognize the girl was the giant sash hanging loosely to her body with her name in big capital letters. The lights were so dim around them, facial features were almost impossible to distinguish between everyone.  


Niall gave Zayn a pat on the shoulder with a nod and scurried himself to the main area of the party. He smiled back and then walked up to duo. Harry was laughing about something and it sent that same weird feeling in his stomach ─ jealously?  


“Oh, hey. Wait, where’s Violet?” Harry’s friendly smile faded as he asked the question, confused.  


Zayn lifted his arm, indicating that she was under the blanket he had around her. This just made Harry’s eyebrows knit in confusion. “Diapers ─ I need them. They’re in the car.”  


His facial expression relaxed now understanding him and the baby being at this party now. “Oh, okay. Here I’ll take you to it.” He turned back over to Apple who was texting on her phone, obviously not very interested in our conversation. “Hey, Apple. I’m going to go. Welcome back!” He had to half-shout at her while they walked away, it being so noisy throughout the entire house.  


The walk to their car was silent, but not awkward. They were both too busy weaseling through everyone to even have time to start up a conversation anyway. But now that they were outside, only accompanied by a few bystanders who were probably leaving as well, it started making Zayn feel a bit uncomfortable. Fortunately their car was right there so he didn’t have to suffer too much.  


The car doors beeped, indicating that they were now unlocked and Harry went over to open the trunk. Zayn had her on her back in the backseat where she stayed wiggling around. “Uh─” Zayn stuttered as she tried to figure out what to do first. Take the diaper off, check. Powder next? Wait, no wipe. Wait─ “I got it.” Harry said and replaced Zayn’s original space where he almost effortlessly changed her. When he turned around, Violet was buckled safely into her car seat. Harry mouthed a “you’re welcome” with a smirk pressed against his lips. Zayn had to bite at his lip to submerge a giggle.  


The car seat was colder than he expected it to be as he slid himself in. Harry turned the key into the ignition and put his hand on the headrest of the passenger seat so he could see behind him. He looked at Zayn, his eyes scanning over him quickly. It made Zayn bite at his lip more. “Buckle your seat.” Harry said as he still kept his eyes on his. He nodded, reaching over and clicking it into place. A smile of satisfaction flickered on his face, now rewinding out of the parking spot.  


By the time they parked in front of their dorm, Violet was already knocked out asleep behind them. The magic of a clean diaper.  


Harry was the one to carry her inside this time (Zayn claimed his “arms were tired”, but it’s not like Harry really needed that much of a reason to carry her).  


As Harry left to put her to sleep, Zayn fell back into one of the sofas releasing air with his impact. A brief realization that he was now at the house alone with Harry made a different feeling bubble inside of him. He couldn’t pinpoint it; although, it definitely wasn’t jealousy this time.  


Zayn let Harry decide which movie to watch since he was the one who had to change the diaper earlier. After minutes of Just Pick One, Harry and Yes, That’s Fine Let’s Just Watch That, he eventually grabbed one and placed it in the television. Zayn couldn’t remember the name that he had mentioned, it was some kind of science fiction movie apparently.  


When Harry turned his body back around, that was when Zayn noticed how truly snuggly he looked. Almost as if he could be a human sized teddy bear if he really wanted. The way his joggers hung excruciatingly loose on his hips, bare chest, and his socks rolled unevenly on his feet. In the back of his mind he begged Harry to come and sit as close as possible with him, as if Harry could somehow read his mind and follow his mental request.  


“You alright man?” Harry was staring at him. Zayn must’ve been looking at him too long, a look of worry spread on Harry’s face. He nodded his head, getting out of his dreamy state. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Kiddo kind of wore me out today I guess.” Harry just smiled back towards him and shut the lamp off that was to his left. He could smell the faint leftovers of his cologne that he must’ve put on before he left for the party when he leaned over. His necklace swung against his chest, glistening in the reflection of the lamp until it was turned off.  


Zayn brought his attention back to the TV that was now rolling the last bit of commercials. His fingers twitched inside his palm, suddenly not feeling very comfortable with sitting so still.  


Harry plopped himself down beside him. It made a warm feeling inside Zayn’s stomach bubble up, the feeling of his arm brushing against Harry’s bare skin. He swallowed 

hard. His feet kicked up on the coffee table to try and relax himself—make him forget about the thoughts that were forcing its way out. _He’s just a friend. He’s just a friend. He’s just a —_  


_Did he just scoot closer to me? Is he getting up? No, wait—fuck. The side of Harry’s head was now rested on Zayn’s lap. He bit his lip, trying not to think of where he was placed. A contempt sigh escaped from Harry’s mouth, a warm rush of air hitting at his legs through the fabric. His toes curled, lip between his teeth being bitten harder.  
_

“Zayn?” It sounded like a half grumble-half mumble.  


“Yeah?”  


He didn’t say anything for awhile and Zayn almost thought he was hearing things and Harry didn’t actually call his name. Another sigh came from him; his toes curled again.  


Harry flipped his head in a 90 degree angle, now the back of his head against his thighs. Zayn could feel him looking at him, but he tried to fight the urge to look back knowing he would crumble right there if he did. He needed to remain as composed as possible. His heart pounded against his ribs. Zayn reached his hand up to comb through Harry’s hair, scratching softly against the scalp. Harry hummed at the touch and Zayn looked at him. His eyes were closed for a moment before he opened them again. Neither of them were even paying attention to the movie, they were just paying attention to each other. Zayn was still biting at the skin on his lips absentmindedly as he watched his hand run through the long waves of brown hair.  


“Zayn.” He directed his eyes back to his face, his hand stopping the original movements and just laid there. If the movie was any louder he wouldn’t have even heard it he was so quiet. He could’ve sworn Harry’s eyes were blurry, as if he would’ve started crying at any moment. He almost asked him if he was okay but Harry had leaned back up. They were both still in close proximity, Harry’s heavy breaths hitting against Zayn’s cheek. His breath hitched in the back of his throat.  


He caught Harry look at his lips then back up to his eyes. “Say my name.” Harry’s voice was still voiceless as he spoke. Zayn’s mouth opened, words not wanting to come out of his mouth. He tongue was dry all of a sudden, hands clammy at the touch. His heart felt like it was trying to climb out of his chest. He blinked hard and took a deep breath hoping his voice wouldn’t crack. “H-harry.” Right at the last syllable, the space between them became nonexistent. His mouth collided into Zayn’s with his hand reaching to the back of his neck with a slight grip. When the kiss got deeper a small hum came from Zayn which made Harry pull him closer.  


Everything Zayn was ever worried about that night left his mind at that moment as he leaned Harry back against the couch, only the cotton of Zayn’s tee separating their chests. His hands roamed over his chest, tracing over the tattoos that he had memorized from observing them so much.  


Zayn’s hand firmly gripped Harry’s hip, pulling him up nearer. No matter the fact that they couldn’t be much closer than they already were, Zayn craved more. The previous hand moved from the spot of his hips to his outer thigh, his thumb digging into it, making Harry squirm beneath the touch. It made Zayn smile against the kiss which Harry reciprocated. Slowly his hand dropped to the top of his sweatpants. He could already feel Harry against him from the lack of area that was between them. It caused goosebumps to go up and down his spine.  


His hand palmed against his crotch. Harry’s head lolled backward, his lips disconnecting with Zayn’s. “Do it again.” This time with a little more pressure, he did. A loud moan ripped through his throat, sounding out through the room.  


Footsteps were heard right outside the door, familiar voices following along with them. Zayn’s head snapped to the door. “Shit shit shit shit.” He repeated, climbing off of Harry and running to get a blanket from the floor. He tossed one to Harry who quickly wrapped it over his waist. Zayn could feel a bead of sweat falling down the side of his face and immediately wiped it off. He closed his eyes, pretending like he had been asleep the whole time.  


“─I swear to God, mate. Those girls were totally checking ‘ya out.” Louis was talking to one of them, Zayn couldn’t quite figure out who. Probably Niall, Liam wasn’t ever really the type to care too much about picking up girls. The door slammed shut behind them, keys dropping on the table.  


“Well there ‘ya two are! We thought we left you both at the party for a bit...Until I realized you blokes took the bloody car! No problem though, we hitched a ride with some red head. Wasn’t much of a talker at least. Didn’t miss much while you were gone, even though Niall did have a couple of oglers.” Zayn didn’t even have to look at him to know that Louis was wiggling his eyebrows.  


“Yeah ─ he needed the diapers for Violet.” Harry’s voice was still raspy and he knew he realized it because just as quickly, he cleared his throat.  


“Ah, ‘s fine.” Louis walked over and sat himself on the same couch as Harry. His voice got lower into a whisper. “Zaynie asleep?” Harry nodded his head, mindlessly flipping through the channels on the TV. “Hm, alright. Well I think I’m gonna go catch on some sleep as well. Na’night Harold.” He ruffled Harry’s hair playfully as he exited into his bedroom.  


Zayn was still very awake, his eyes fluttering against his eyelids. He still waited a couple minutes to make sure no one wanted to come back out there for him to open his eyes again. His body shifted to sit upright. His eyes only met with Harry’s for a moment but changed back to looking at the floor. He could sense Harry still looking at him.  
He got up from his spot. “Going to head to bed. Good night, Harry.” Harry was still looking up at him, blanket still draped around his hips. His eyes glistened against the TV screen’s light when he looked back at him.  


Zayn maneuvered around the coffee table and then past Harry. He almost screamed out with alarm when he felt a hand wrap around his forearm. His head shot to the side to see Harry looking pleadingly back at him. He could feel his pulse hit against his own skin, it was going about as fast as his was now.  


“Can you come sleep with me?” His grip slacked back to the chair’s armrest. “I mean, like, just come lay down with me.” The way Harry asked reminded Zayn of a little kid coming to his parents’ room to go sleep with them after a bad nightmare. Zayn’s face remained stoic, unable to process things very quickly.  


It finally came to him, a smile stretched his lips. He reached a hand to run through Harry’s hair. “C’mon then.”

**Author's Note:**

> our tumblrs:
> 
> crankyhoe.tumblr.com
> 
> shutupbenwinston.tumblr.com
> 
> tumblr post: http://crankyhoe.tumblr.com/post/116416752745/four-wallsauthor-uranus-pairings-zayn-harry


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